A Question
by Keriara
Summary: Oshitari asks Atobe a simple question. Atobe is not thrilled with the idea of answering it, but finds that he has to. [AtoJi, light OshiGaku]


**A/N: **Written for Spring Fluff 2007 for sexeh.chan XD (only difference is that this version has italics, as in the actual exchange fic I had forgotten to put in the html coding D:). Written in more-or-less the same style as in _Fail_. Let me know what you think!

**Warnings: **A bit of swearing. Sad humour XD''.

**Disclaimer:** Not mine

---

"Atobe," Oshitari mused one day at lunch, his hands behind his head as he lay against the wall watching Gakuto and Jirou rally back and forth in a one-point match. "I have a question."

"What." His response was short, his eyes fixed on the book in front of him that he was reading.

"Have you ever kissed Jirou before?"

Atobe's head jerked up, and he narrowed his eyes at Oshitari. "What kind of question is _that_?"

"Surely someone like you is capable of comprehending such a simple query."

"Witty." He shot back sarcastically. "And the reason you're being this nosy is because…?"

"Well," Oshitari said thoughtfully. "Shishido and I have this bet going on. He thinks that you two have, while _I_ think that you two haven't. So, which is it?"

Atobe could feel his eye starting to twitch. "You and Shishido _bet_ on us."

"You sound affronted."

"And why wouldn't I be? Ore-sama is _not_ some racehorse that you can place bets on. And for that matter, neither is Jirou."

Oshitari looked amused. "But we didn't bet on you two specifically. We merely argued on whether or not you and Jirou have done it."

"You two are disgusting." Atobe closed his book with a loud snap. "And ore-sama's love life is none of your business."

"But Atobe," Oshitari said, watching as Gakuto twisted in mid-air and smashed the tennis ball back towards Jirou, who nearly tripped in his haste to get to it. "I'm sure that you don't want me asking _other_ people about this. Although…they might be surprised to hear that you've been secretly dating Jirou for the last month or so."

Atobe nearly flinched. "_Excuse_ me?"

"You're excused after you give me an answer," he glibly replied.

"There is a word for this, you know. It's called _blackmail_."

"No, I'm just trying to persuade you to see things differently."

"You," he forced out through gritted teeth, resisting the urge to fling the book he was holding at the other boy's head. "Are a bastard."

Oshitari shot him an innocent smile. "Your answer?"

There was a brief silence. "…tell me first: how much did you bet on…_this_, exactly?"

An eyebrow went up. "About two thousand yen."

"Well then." Atobe waspishly said. "Congratulations on now being two thousand yen poorer. Too bad you hadn't bet more."

It took Oshitari approximately three seconds for Atobe's comment to register in his mind – and when it did, he jerked upright from his relaxed position to shoot the other boy an incredulous look.

"You _have_ kissed Jirou?"

Atobe twitched. "Why do you sound so damned surprised?"

"Because I find that extremely hard to believe." Oshitari retorted. "The two of you don't even _act_ like a couple."

"Just because you've never seen us kiss before?"

"That's one of the reasons. You always see Gakuto and I together."

"Oshitari, contrary to belief, not everyone is like _you_. Most people do _not_ go around with their lips glued to their partner's, whether in public _or_ private."

"We're not kissing at the moment," Oshitari pointed out.

"You would be if my Jirou hadn't challenged Gakuto to a match."

"Perhaps," Oshitari conceded. "But it still stands that your behaviour isn't ordinary."

"Of course not. Ore-sama is _extraordinary_, after all."

"If by that you mean abnormal, then I wholeheartedly agree with you."

"_You_ should look in a mirror if you want to see someone abnormal."

"Why would you be in my bathroom?"

Atobe closed his eyes, thoroughly irritated. "Why am I even wasting my time talking to you?"

"Because our boyfriends are playing each other on the court?"

"And I had been _reading_ when you interrupted me with such a pointless question. I think we should go back to what we had been doing before this conversation started."

"I still don't believe you, Atobe."

"And I could care less what you think, Oshitari."

"You don't even _hold_ hands with Jirou."

"Not in public, of course not."

"Nor when around people who know you two are dating."

Atobe shrugged gracefully. "What does it matter?"

"There's no romance in your relationship, is there?"

"Of course there is." He replied. "I kiss him all the time. Just not when you're around. Now can we drop this subject? I'd like to get back to my book before class starts."

Oshitari was silent. "Then prove it," he suddenly said.

"_What_?"

"Prove it," he repeated. "I want to see you kiss Jirou right now."

Utter silence.

"_No_." Atobe flatly stated. "Just to indulge you? _I think not_."

"Don't make me accidentally let it be known that the two of you are dating."

"_You_ –"

"Atobe!!" Jirou called, bouncing up towards him, interrupting their conversation and bringing an abrupt end to it. It seemed that their impromptu game had ended without either Oshitari or Atobe noticing. "I won!! Did you see what I did? Gakuto did his moon-thingy and just before I hit it back I remembered that move you showed me. So I used it, and the ball spin went all funny and Gakuto couldn't hit it back and I WON!"

"Well done." Atobe congratulated. "I had expected that you'd win. Especially since your opponent was _Gakuto_."

"Hey!" The redhead exclaimed angrily. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"_Atobe_…" Oshitari murmured warningly.

"What." He snapped.

"Do it. Or _else_."

Atobe shot him a look of pure rage.

"Jirou."

"Hmm?"

"Come sit here." He gestured to the spot in front of him.

Obediently, Jirou plopped himself down in front of Atobe, tilting his head quizzically. "Now what?"

Atobe took a deep breath to calm himself. "It seems that _Oshitari_ here needs a lesson in kissing." He said, ignoring the glare that was thrown his way. When this was all over, he was definitely going to get Kabaji to kill the bespectacled tensai. "Would you mind demonstrating?"

A horrified look stole across Jirou's features. "You…you want me to kiss _Oshitari_, Atobe?" He squeaked.

A splutter, followed by an indignant, "what!" came from beside him.

Slightly appalled at the image that had inadvertently appeared in his mind of Oshitari and Jirou, Atobe gathered the blond into his arms. "Absolutely _not_. I would never subject you to something as traumatizing as that. I meant with _me_."

Silence followed his words, one in which Jirou turned a bright shade of red.

"But Atobe…" He started haltingly. "We…"

Acutely aware that Oshitari was listening in on this exchange very, very carefully, Atobe leaned in, his eyes catching Jirou's and holding them intently. "I promise to explain everything later," he murmured. "Do you trust me?"

Wordlessly, he nodded.

"Come over after practice." Not so much a question as it was a statement. Even so, he nodded once again.

Then, in front of Oshitari and Gakuto, Atobe tilted Jirou's chin upwards and kissed him.

---

"Neh, Atobe…" Jirou murmured, his head on Atobe's lap, his fingers tracing patterns on the bed they were both on sprawled on.

"Hn?" Atobe's own fingers were toying with Jirou's hair, running through the curls that fanned out across his legs, marvelling inwardly as he always did at its silkiness.

"It…the kiss this afternoon."

"What about it?"

There was a slight pause. "I…it was nice."

Atobe let out a breath he hadn't even known he was holding. "I thought so too."

Jirou looked up at him curiously. "But why did you tell Oshitari that we had kissed before?"

Atobe's hands stilled, then continued threading through his boyfriend's hair. "Because if I had told him otherwise, he would have won the bet."

"But that meant that Shishido won it instead," Jirou pointed out.

He scowled. "I'd rather Shishido win than that prick."

A laugh. "Lesser of two evils, I see." Dropping his gaze, he smiled and snuggled deeper against him. "All the same, thank you."

"For what?"

"My first kiss."

A quiet laugh. "It was mine too, you know."

Jirou suddenly looked back up at him, his eyes glittering playfully. "Can you kiss me again?"

And with a grin, Atobe complied.


End file.
